Windsor County has long been a Democrat and Progressive stronghold. Its largest town, Hartford, has voted overwhelmingly blue (approximately 70%) since at least as long as they’ve used Dominion voting machines, maybe even longer. However a shift has been taking place of late, and one person who finds herself at the center of it is Andrea Murray, Republican candidate for the Vermont Senate.
Earlier this year the Vermont Daily Chronicle covered a story emerging from the Windsor County Republican party where, despite a call by Vermont GOP leader Paul Dame to unify, the meeting descended into infighting following the challenge to incumbent Windsor County GOP president John McGovern. The primary challengers were led by one August Murray, Andrea’s husband, who read a detailed letter explaining why John McGovern should not be recognized in an official capacity. After much back and forth the end result was McGovern resigned and the Windsor County GOP suddenly had more life in it than a newborn calf.
Windsor County GOP meetings have since had record attendance and the hope that has emerged can largely be tied to the work of the Murrays, both lifelong Republicans.
Andrea is a native of another kind – Native American . Born to a military family in Fort Sill, Oklahoma she spent most of her childhood abroad in Germany with a few stints in Texas. While in Germany she attended DOD (Department of Defense) schools graduating from Hanau High School at a time when foreign threats meant she was escorted to school by armed soldiers. Her take? “It was just our life and we adapted.”
Her favorite teacher, Mr. Lightle, taught auto-mechanics, study hall and coached wrestling and football. “He treated me like a young adult and encouraged me to be a leader among my peers” she recalls fondly. Andrea was the manager for the wrestling team until it got too expensive to take the train to events and school, given DOD students were not allowed to earn money until they turned seventeen. Her parents, though both employed, didn’t make enough to cover the added cost. Despite the slim options and lack of student government per DOD protocols, she participated on the debate team, a skill she’s found useful in life and expects to employ as a senator. Andrea’s power of persuasion manifest itself the year she convinced twenty-five or so boys they all needed to be cooler, which found them agreeing to go home that day with a pierced ear, and a legend was born. They still talk about it at the reunions.
After graduating Andrea would go to Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma obtaining a degree in Respiratory Therapy. She was elected class president and used her youthful powers of influence once again to lead the class across state lines where they would create a lifelong bond by getting tattoos. However this fit of youthful exuberance wouldn’t be the hallmark of her career.
Respiratory therapy is a serious field which involves life and death decisions, some of which have been life changing for Andrea. As a member of the Code Team she has participated in resuscitating a person’s non-beating heart, once even doing compressions. “Getting to escort them back to their car a few days later changed how I see the world as a human being” she recalls. “Seeing the power of God when He restores life is beyond words.”
Conversely the job required Andrea to administer end of life care, which exposed her to both the callousness of jaded family members and need for dignity to those whose time was vanishing. She overheard nurses receive phone calls from relatives asking for death certificates worried more about estate planning. Other seniors were completely alone – “no cards, no flowers, nothing from home and no visitors.” Some of the floor nurses would call for Andrea who would sit and hold their hand, talk with them and even read Bible verses offering hope as they breathed their last.
Andrea and August met at an American Legion event in Texas, which kindled their romance and ultimately brought them to August’s native stomping grounds in Vermont. Together they have a middle-school aged son and grown daughter who lives out of state. Though technically retired they live with the schedule of artisan farmers where August manages a sizeable property in the Ascutney area.
A day in the life for Andrea begins around 6am when she wakes up the house then heads out to the barn. These “sacred’ morning starts include feeding the cattle with warm greetings and back scratches, keeping a sideways glance on Hank the Longhorn who likes to steal her coffee. She then releases they tiny raptors who, despite her husbandry, proceed to destroy her flower beds. After which comes breakfast, getting her son off to school, catching up on the days to-dos (housework, farmwork, dinner) which now includes campaigning.
When asked what she loves about Vermont her answer is fairly simple. “I love that Vermont is Vermont. We don’t try to be like anywhere else in the world. The towns have their own beautiful charm, their own way of doing things and the local loyalty is palpable.” She loves the lack of billboards and traffic and that neighbors will drop everything to help each other without having to be asked. She also loves that “people are not afraid to share their opinion on a subject, especially about traditional Vermont activities (sugaring, haying, animal husbandry). She also loves the rich history and how well Vermonters appreciate and preserve theirs, and the small town trust of folks who offer goods from a farm-stand with an open cashbox “reflecting Vermonters still have faith in humanity”.
“Yep, there is goodness still in this world and it’s easy to find here in Vermont. I love that.”
When asked about her concerns for Vermont’s future she reiterates the very things she loves about Vermont are what she fears are at stake.
“I am concerned about the very things that I love about Vermont. In the name of growth, not enough consideration is being given to the fact that what makes sense in larger states, just won’t be effective here. I worry about Vermont losing its identity as a rural faming state and haven of quaint villages, shops, and historic pastoral beauty.
An example is a potential forced closing of small town schools that may look good on paper but will instead likely mean the end of a town’s growth and influx of families. No new families means no commercial investment in community services or new commerce and no new tax revenue sources. Government over-regulation of matters that belong to the citizen is a dangerous path of forced compliance. Our motto is “Freedom & Unity” not “Label & Control.”
I fear that far-left special interest agendas are intent on destroying families in Vermont. Taking away parent’s rights and forcing socialist universal programs that benefit the elite is astonishingly brazen abuse of power. Universal lunch, Child care for 575% FPL & 1 Million in assets, rental controls, gun control, food producing farms conversion to solar farms, and of course, the bankrupting climate agenda.
I want to be a part of the discussion and decision-making with those who request these policies and why they are a priority over tax-saving policies and programs that promote growth and development?”
These are the things motivating Andrea to become the first Republican Senator from Windsor County in over twenty years.
Fun facts about Andrea:
Favorite music: 1980s metal , 60-70s rock and pre-2000s country preferring the oldies
Favorite food? “Ribeye Steak of course, and realy Shoyu or Tonkotsu Ramen”.
Favorite place to eat out: Weathersfield Inn
Top 3 Favorite movies: The Breakfast Club, Dirty Dancing and Independence Day
Top 3 Favorite books: The Holy Bible, The Jungle by Upton Sinclair and Robert’s Rules of Order (12th ed.)
Hobbies/passions/talents: As a creative Andrea is a self-taught handywoman who likes to solve problems rather than outsource them, unless it’s electrical because she “doesn’t want to die or burn her house down”. She also has learned the trades of woodworking and jewelry making which has been “pretty humbling knowing hundreds of people have ‘popped the question’ with a ring I made”.
Bucket list items:
- Grow a prize winning pumpkin. One of my seedlings from a near contender won a blue ribbon last year’s fair, but I didn’t grow it (neighbor’s granddaughter).
- Drive the Nuernburgring with a Mercedes AMG.
- Write a book.
